Confience’s Sample Master® LIMS Reduces Testing Turnaround Times and Doubles Revenue at Aqua Water Supply Corporation
AQUA Water Supply Corporation is a nonprofit corporation in Bastrop, Texas. Serving rural and urban residents and businesses for more than 50 years, it covers over 1,000 square miles in six Texas counties--most of Bastrop County and parts of Travis, Lee, Caldwell, Fayette, and Williamson counties. More than 50,000 residents rely on AQUA as a safe, reliable, and sustainable source of drinking water. AQUA provides water and wastewater services for homes, farms, businesses, and ranches. With more than 22,000-meter connections, AQUA is the second largest water supply corporation in Texas. AQUA’s CCN (Certificate of Convenience & Necessity) was granted in April 1969, and operations began in January 1970. At this time, the U.S. Farm and Home Administration extended loans and grants to spur start-up water systems all over the U.S. to provide safe drinking water at reasonable prices to rural areas. Previously, rural residents in the area often hauled water or used cisterns. There were some scattered community wells, but the quality varied from location to location.
Since its inception, AQUA Water Supply Corporation’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for its members and their families by providing safe, reliable, and sustainable water and wastewater services that meet or exceed state and federal regulatory standards. The laboratory is TNI Accredited and a TCEQ Approved Laboratory for Drinking and Non-Potable Water with regulatory compliance requirements. Program Testing capabilities include Lead and Copper Rule, Water Quality Parameters, RTCR, and NPDES.
Their Challenge
AQUA’s Laboratory Director Steve Dunn had been contemplating a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) acquisition for several years. With just 4 staff members, and outdated manual, paper-based processes, the lab was falling behind. Anticipating expansion of the lab in late 2019 and a significant increase in commercial business, the time was right to move ahead with the plan. Additional justification included a change in accreditation for TNI to include reporting for both drinking and wastewater.
The processes were manual and slow. A quarterly Chlorine report took a full day to prepare. Reports were merely spreadsheets. New WQP and LCR rules meant that customized reports would be needed.
Josephine Longoria joined the team as Technical Director and established several goals, including adding new equipment, applying for accreditation, and implementing a LIMS within a year. The main objective was to improve report turnaround time and quality.
Steve Dunn | Laboratory Director
AQUA Water Supply Corporation
Our Solution
The AQUA team evaluated three LIMS solutions, and selected Confience’s Sample Master LIMS with the Software as a Service (SaaS) deployment option. While price was a deciding factor, the team was not looking for the lowest cost solution. Rather, they wanted the best value. They found the SaaS solution helpful, as it did not overly tax their IT resources. The implementation process went smoothly with side-by-side instances and minimal testing before going live.
Confience’s Sample Master LIMS added valuable functionality right away. Reports were customized to deliver the required information, support commercial customers, and adhere to TNI regulations. Automated data entry with parsers has improved accuracy and enabled quality control by flagging data outside of acceptable ranges. Turnaround times are now easily measured and tracked. Trend analysis is possible.
Results are evident in increased productivity. Reports that took hours/days, now take minutes to complete (e.g. WQR, LCR, RTCR, DMR) with auto-population of EDDs to the state. The quarterly Chlorine report turnaround time reduced from 1 day to 1-2 hours. Changes in state requirements can easily be addressed through new customizations to save time.
AQUA finds Sample Master LIMS easy to use, with reliable and impressive support; 99% of issues have been resolved immediately. A recent upgrade experience was “impressive”. And due to the improvements in lab efficiency, revenue from testing performed for other water utilities, commercial businesses, and private homeowners has doubled since implementing the LIMS.
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